Cryogeyser
Sam Blasucci & Julia Zivic
Sam Blasucci is best known as one half of Mapache, a Southern California roots-rock duo just as instantly recognizable for their elegant, intertwined guitar parts as they are for their devoted, Nudie-Suit wearing fanbase. But when Blasucci was writing the songs that would become his debut solo record, Off My Stars, he found himself less focused on the guitar and more gravitated toward a different instrument: piano. The mother of Clay Finch, his Mapache bandmate, was getting rid of one, and so Blasucci took the piano, carefully transporting it to his home in Ojai, California, with the help of a few strong friends, including Farmer Dave Scher of Beachwood Sparks (and a Mapache collaborator). “Farmer Dave wasn’t even wearing shoes,” Blasucci remembers, laughing. Once the piano was safely in there, he became deeply attached, playing on it multiple hours a day: “It’s changed the way I think about music, having all the keys laid out in front of me,” he explains. “Having that sort of changed everything.” Also inspired by his recent time riding out the pandemic in New Orleans, where the clubs may have closed but the music never stopped, Blasucci used that piano to start writing one of the most inspired batches of songs of his career thus far. New gems like “Turn Yourself Around” and “Sha La La” were developing with a Southern swing and classic songbook sparkle, and when assessing the growing stack of music he was working on, Blasucci realized that there was something about these tunes that wasn’t quite suited for a Mapache record. Infused with an honest, personal perspective about settling into adult life—about developing as a person and a partner and a family member—these songs were straight from the heart, a clear window, recently Windexed, into the life of one of the most talented members of the L.A.-area underground rock scene. __ Julia Zivic’s music walks a tightrope between tenderness, and power, effortlessly captivating audiences with her ability to navigate intricate emotional landscapes with ease. Julia Zivic’s latest album Good Cry (2022) is sonic storytelling, touching on subjects that journey through the spectrum of death, love and gratitude.Julia lends her songwriting and live performance to esteemed projects like Carrtoons, Rae Kahlil, Joey Dosik, Joanna Teters, Pale Jay, Yoh, Marigold, Ghost Funk Orchestra and more. Recently, Julia garnered further recognition on NPR Tiny Desk, lending her vocals, songwriting and performance to collaborator Ben Carr’s performance under the project Carrtoons. When she’s not on tour with one of her many collaborators, Julia is home in the Hudson Valley as the Director of Music and team member for Beacon Open Studios, a yearly cultural event showcasing the power and importance of the local art scene in The Hudson Valley. She’s also a music and events curator at The Yard in Beacon, NY. Julia, a self-proclaimed homebody, enjoys immersing herself in community when she’s not performing elsewhere.
Infinite Cathedral
Josh Teed
Virginia Man
Virginia Man is an emotional folk-and-roll band comprised of Kristian Lietzan (singer/songwriter), Stephen Amoruso (bass/vocals), and Jamaal Farrow (drummer). With poetic lyrics bellowing over the sounds of middle Appalachia, these gentlemen champion the sound of Virginia: a strange suspension between the cardinal directions, musical genres, and the changing of seasons. The live show has become a favorite amongst members and audiences alike, like a sonic rollercoaster, akin to the plot of a great American classic, with gripping performances and storytelling, and celebratory beverages to follow.
Jeremy Mercy
December 27, 2024, marks the release of Heavyweight, the first album by Omaha Americana band Jeremy Mercy and the Rapture Orphans. Recorded variously at Omaha’s ARC, Make Believe Studios, and the Omaha Conservatory of music, all tracks were produced and mixed by Ian Aeillo and mastered by Doug VanSloun. Mercy’s work with the Rapture Orphans has marked a departure from his earlier project Travelling Mercies (2009 -2019) in scope and sound. “My work with the new band on Heavyweight has been less focused on character sketches amidst a stylistic free-for-all. This is more about dealing honestly with my inner life and expressing it through a more coherent sound,” says Mercy. “The title Heavyweight absolutely evokes some macho, tough-guy bullshit, but is really about struggling with the weight of my own heart. The two of us have been going at it for years. It’s definitely the most I’ve shown of myself emotionally in my writing and performance.” The Heavyweight cast features an Omaha music scene dream team: GeorgeAnne Prescott on banjo and lap steel, Danny Burns on bass, Lee Gambrel on drums, and Kate Williams on accordion and keys (Clayton Goliath Pace now serves as the group’s bass player). The album also features the work of Nate Fowler, Scott Johnson, and Eric Elworth. Oliver Bates Craven of the Stray Birds and Sierra Ferrell’s band also makes an unforgettable appearance with his fiddle solo on “The Contender.” — Scott Severin redefines eclectic. Born “sometime during the Kennedy administration,” this songwriter/performance artist has been a folkie, punk rocker, actor and street performer. He incorporates musical styles from Folk, Punk, Country & Western and Americana, as well as traditional Rock & Roll. A native New Yorker, he relocated to Nebraska about two decades ago. Produced by legendary musician Steve Burgh, his debut album “Unknown Rider” was released in 2004, followed by “Birdhouse Obbligato”, recorded in Nebraska in 2010 with noted keyboardist Joe Delia. In 2022, Scott and his partner, Stateleigh Holmes, contributed their cover of Eric Andersen’s song “Woman, She Was Gentle” to a three CD Tribute of Eric’s songs “Tribute To A Songpoet”. — Stateleigh Homes began her music career playing solo at the historic Caffe Lena in 1975. Her two-woman duo, Mechanical Servants, had an NME-charting EP in the UK and an indy hit in Japan in 1980. Stateleigh then moved to London where she worked with Barry Adamson, Dave Formula and John Davidson of the iconic British band, Magazine. While still living in the UK, Stateleigh recorded an EP for Bomp Records in LA that was produced by Earl Mankey, an original member of Sparks. Stateleigh also sang on and toured in support of Howard Devoto’s solo album, Jerky Versions Of The Dream. Miss Holmes has written and collaborated on recordings with Jerry Dammers of The Specials as well. Stateleigh has worked with the legendary producers Pete Anderson, Richard Gottehrer, Adrian Sherwood and Earle Mankey. Upon returning to the US, Stateleigh played with storied NYC rock band, Big Iron, before decamping to Nashville. Somewhere in there, our Miss Holmes decided she’d like a normal life but now she’s back and bringing all this and more to you! xxooxxx
Hangover Ball
Being Dead
Being Dead — the Austin, TX-based duo consisting of Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy — announces its new album, EELS, out September 27th on Bayonet, lead single/video “Firefighters,” and a fall headline tour. Being Dead’s records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead’s psyche, it is, most importantly, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next. It’s a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil’ house in the heart of Austin, Texas.
The Journey to Dancefestopia
Dylan LeBlanc & David Ramirez
Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often finds himself flirting with the edge — or “dancing on a razor,” as he calls it — as it is all he has ever known. A verdict vagabond since he was a little boy tossed between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the precipice, never staying in one place for too long. It is that nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the beast that titles his newest record: ‘Coyote.’ LeBlanc says he has always related to the insatiable, scavenging nature of the wily coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musically and otherwise. It is a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he credits one particularly hair-raising face-to-face instance with solidifying his bond with the animal. LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with Mother Nature’s good graces as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote. “We’re looking at each other dead in the eyes…and I’m saying — out loud — ‘If it’s you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. I’m not going down.’ It was intense, this human-animal moment,” LeBlanc recalls. “I’ve never forgotten that… he was just trying to survive and so was I.” ‘Coyote’ is LeBlanc’s first self-produced release, boasting a cherry-picked lineup of what he calls “killer session players,” such as drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim “Moose” Brown (Bob Seger), and bass player Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Though ‘Coyote’ covers familiar ground for LeBlanc of living on the edge of danger and its many consequences, the record is both autobiographical and a concept album built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run. __ David Ramirez took a little time to get back to himself, and now he’s dead set on making music for himself—for the sake of the music… and nothing else. “I love all the records I’ve made in the past. But in making them, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of where and what it could get me. I made both creative and business decisions with a goal in mind… a goal that often never came. This time it was all about just the joy of making it, about having fun with it.” The Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter—whose decades-long career has seen six fulllength studio albums, three EPs, countless collaborations, and an illustrious supergroup project in Glorietta—spent a season of rest away from his focus on writing songs. In the wake of the end of a long relationship, he wanted to prioritize processing his grief as a human, not as an artist bleeding on the page. “The last thing I wanted was to write a heartbreak record. So I stopped writing altogether, and I just waited until I saw my heart start coming back to life. I wanted the next thing to be hopeful and sweet and beautiful—a testament to music and my love for it.” David’s new record All the Not So Gentle Reminders, which comes out March 21, 2025 via Blue Corn Music is exactly what he was waiting for. The 12-song album is an expansive succession of dreamlike songs that tell his stories, yes—but more than anything lean into the possibilities of the trip that music can take us on.
